"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

The drummer is going to keep the time for the rowers. If he messes up they are probably instructed to follow whatever beat he gives them. And the helmsman controls all the steering and directions of the boat.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

yea no kidding, the helmsman position is very hard are requires a lot of concentration and coordination. i have been on a dragon boat before. pretty cool. also, the festivals in china and taiwan are going on around this time of year so the dragon boat task makes a lot of sense.

You will realize that it's all in the same district and that travelling within the district is extremely easy with either subway or taxis.

The only problem I can see teams having trouble with is the pitstop, which the cabbies could have brought them to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which is TAR 12's pitstop or any other memorials for other Chinese historians, which I think the city of Taipei itself has a few.

To the team who got lost: Really really bad luck. Taiwanese usually speak A LITTLE English these days. It's easier to converse to the people in Taiwan than in Hong Kong, IMHO.

&... while they're at Taipei and so near to the location, i'm quite shocked they didn't go to the Taipei Arena!

You will realize that it's all in the same district and that travelling within the district is extremely easy with either subway or taxis.

The only problem I can see teams having trouble with is the pitstop, which the cabbies could have brought them to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which is TAR 12's pitstop or any other memorials for other Chinese historians, which I think the city of Taipei itself has a few.

To the team who got lost: Really really bad luck. Taiwanese usually speak A LITTLE English these days. It's easier to converse to the people in Taiwan than in Hong Kong, IMHO.

&... while they're at Taipei and so near to the location, i'm quite shocked they didn't go to the Taipei Arena!

I am surprised more teams didnt get lost bc anyone that speaks chinese and isn't bilingual, usually speak very little english. well, at least the relatives i have speak little english. communicating with the cabbies would be very difficult in taiwan i would imagine.

Some get trouble in traffic maybe when they arrive it happens the most crowed time in Taipei, esp it's Monday. As to the weather, maybe a little but not a big problem tomorrow if they move south as go to HK or Guangdong. If their destination is Vietnam, then the effect may less.

Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duan Wi Jie in Chinese falls on June 6th this year. (2011)

They're late by just a few days but the mood is still there, with all the decorations and some after races going on.

Now I've been to Xi Men Ding but i'm not sure if the shops/crowd is there that early in the morning before 9am??

Nah, like most things in Taiwan (except for the convenience stores like 7-11 / Family Mart, etc) most stores only open until after 10h30am~11am-ish. But we might have some crowds from people already working. I'm surprised they're doing Taipei again not another city in Taiwan, specially due to the Temple clue in LA. Back in 2009, got to visit the actual FoGuangShan which is the southbound region of Taiwan, and saw some projections of the upcoming renovations then, don't know how much is ready now, but it would be gorgeous to be seen in HD. However the chances of teams bumping into other foreigners that might have a better grasp at English or young people who will attempt to speak are bigger than in other cities.

So teams are now traveling from Jogja to Jakarta to Bangkok to Phuket and have arrived. Thailand is one of the premier destinations for beaches South Asia.

Actually, from the posts what we know now is that ONE team has travelled to Phuket. We do not yet have evidence for "teams" right? Could easily be for ES.

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan